The tutorial undertakes a holistic approach to enhancing the knowledge of the audience with respect to the most important aspects of the field of solar photovoltaics.

Part 1Danielle Merfeld will provide a broad background to the applications of photovoltaics. Key market segments, along with the performance requirements, will be discussed in detail. These include required efficiency, cost, and reliability, and how each of these drivers impacts market growth. Issues such as balance of systems costs, government incentives, and related items will also be discussed.

Part IIStephen Fonash will focus on the fundamental physics of photovoltaics. Topics include the solar spectrum, carrier absorption and generation, band structures, recombination, and related fundamental parameters critical to the functionality of solar cells. Advanced, so-called third generation, device physics concepts, such as multi-junctions, intermediate bands, hot carriers, and related items, will also be discussed.

Part IIIJoel Ager will explore the major materials systems and technologies in solar photovoltaics. A discussion of silicon solar cells, thin films such as CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2, III-N, and other IIIV-based multi-junctions will be covered. Materials parameters and challenges will be addressed. Emerging materials systems such as organic PV, nanostructured solar cells, and other concepts will also be considered.

Part IVRalph Romero will present an overview of the main approaches to materials processing used in the manufacture of the major, established solar photovoltaic technologies. The specific manufacturing technologies, how processes contribute to both yield and cost, and related issues will be addressed. This will begin with how silicon is mined and purified to produce solar-grade silicon, followed by fabrication of either single crystalline or polycrystalline single ingots. Challenges related to wafering, including the well-known problem of Kerf-loss, will be addressed. Finally, methods for doping of silicon wafers, passivation, and contacts will be addressed. Vapor and solution-based processes such as closed-space sublimation, sputtering, co-evaporation, solution coating, and related methods for deposited absorber layers will be addressed. Challenges with fabrication on glass, metal, and polymer substrates will be discussed. This segment of the tutorial will address the processing of III-V-based technologies that are used primarily in space and terrestrial concentrator applications. These are typically GaAs-based multi-junction technologies that rely on metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) for growth of the absorber layers. Issues with contacts and anti-reflective layers will also be discussed.

On the Chemical and Field-effect Passivation of c-Si by Al2O3 and SiO2/Al2O3 Stacks. Gijs Dingemans, Richard van de Sanden and Erwin Kessels; Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands.